Geothermal Energy Utilization for Buildings Services

The Earth’s large amount of thermal energy is virtually an inexhaustible resource often placed too deep in the ground. Making use of this kind of energy is possible in limited areas. In this paper we analysed a GSHP system, in Galati city (Romania), for which we monitored the available thermal energy. For the analysis we used operational reliability theory, the concept of degradation, which in this case means a reduction of the ground’s thermal capacity as a result of continuous exploitation, meaning low temperature of the thermal agent used for transporting the heat from the ground to the primary exchanger of the heat pump. The decrease of thermal energy supply in the ground means that the heat pump wills no longer function properly in order to provide the energy for heating the building. The term time to failure refers to the time when the ground can no longer provide the minimum required energy for the heat pump operation, in terms of energy efficiency. What we want with this approach is to offer a solution in order to control and manage the heat pump operation.